Rewilding Your Garden, One Corner at a Time

 


Rewilding Your Garden, One Corner at a Time

Summer’s gone, the flowerbeds are bare — now’s the perfect time to make a plan for a wilder, greener next year.

🌿 What Is Rewilding (in a Garden)?

We often hear the word “rewilding” and think of wolves in Yellowstone or forests regrowing in the Scottish Highlands.

But rewilding isn’t just for vast national parks.
Your garden — yes, even a suburban patch — can play a part.

At its heart, rewilding is about letting nature do its thing:

  • More wild plants

  • Less mowing and tidying

  • Homes for insects, birds, frogs, and hedgehogs

  • A little bit of mess = a lot of biodiversity

🐝 Why Start Now?

Autumn and winter may seem like gardening downtime, but they’re planning season.

Your borders are bare. The weeds have slowed down.
Now’s your chance to rethink how you use that space — and make it better for the planet.

And with climate change and pollinator loss accelerating, your patch of earth matters more than ever.

🧭 6 Simple Ways to Rewild One Corner at a Time

  1. Let the Lawn Grow

    • Pick one patch. Mow less. See what grows.

    • Bonus: Less work for you.

  2. Create a Log Pile or Rock Stack

    • A perfect home for beetles, newts, and solitary bees.

    • Hide it behind the shed if you like — nature doesn’t need landscaping.

  3. Add a Mini-Pond (No Pump Needed!)

    • A washing-up bowl or half-barrel will do.

    • Frogs and dragonflies will thank you.

  4. Sow Native Wildflowers

    • Look for UK native seed mixes in autumn or early spring.

    • Bees and butterflies love local.

  5. Ditch the Chemicals

    • Stop using pesticides and weedkillers.

    • Nature finds its own balance.

  6. Build a Bug Hotel or Leaf Pile

    • Great for overwintering insects and hedgehogs.

    • Cheap, easy, and oddly satisfying to assemble.

🌻 Rewilding Doesn’t Mean Chaos

You don’t have to turn your garden into a jungle.
Rewilding can be:

  • Controlled in sections

  • Seasonal (e.g. spring meadow, tidy for summer BBQs)

  • Integrated into existing borders or pots

  • As wild or as neat as you like

Start with one corner — then watch it grow.

Final Thought

Rewilding is a quiet kind of rebellion.
Against tidiness, against monoculture, against sterile gravel gardens.

It’s not about “giving up” your garden — it’s about giving it back to nature.

And planning starts now. So while you’re sipping tea in your boots and eyeing the muddy patch behind the shed, ask:

What could live here next year if I let it?

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